I Has a Harry Potter!

Kiddie cover, sadly, they'd sold out of the adult covers by the time I hit K-Mart Cannon Hill at 9:18. Yes, that's right, 9:18. And that's especially good when you consider I only finished reading the 9am news at 9:07am. Talk about incentives!

I took my microphone down to the shops with me, but there weren't that many kids around. Cannon Hill's a bit more for the retirees I think - besides, if you were going to go all out you'd go to one of the bigger book stores. Managed to get a bit of audio though, so I can say my purchase of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a mere happenstance, which occurred as I was fulfilling work duties. That's my story and I'm sticking with it!

Now predictions from me before I open the book. Let's see how I do:

• Harry lives. Voldemort dies (or suffers his "fate worse than death").
• Harry gets it on with Ginny; ditto Ron/Hermione; ditto Neville/Luna; ditto Hagrid/Olympe; ditto Filch/Pince.
• Death Eaters will kill Umbridge and Fudge. No one will really care.
• Scrimgeour will prove nasty. Not Death Eater nasty; but Dick Cheney nasty. In possibly related events, something will happen to Percy Weasley.
• Neville will do some crazy-ass funky shit. That's about the best description I can muster. It'll probably involve Bellatrix too.
• Snape... Snape, Snape. It's hard to pick, but I still reckon he's good, and will redeem himself. Possible self-sacrifice there.
• McGonagall will ultimately prove how kick-ass she is. It's Minerva's time to shine!
• Malfoy will be redeemed; again, possibly to do with Snape.
• Behind the veil will be a spooky land of spookiness that Harry will be able to access in some way. Really I just want to see a bit of Sirius.
• Dumbledore will have some way of communicating with Harry. As for the "gleam of triumph" - I've still got nothing.

That's all I can think of at the moment... I think I'm going to maintain radio silence once I start the book to ensure I can finish Deathly Hallows spoiler-free. Expelliarmus!